Office chairs include a seat-back arrangement having a horizontally enlarged seat and a back projecting upwardly from a rear edge of the seat. The seat often includes a cushion supported on a plastic support shell to support the occupant thereon. A similar arrangement is used for the back. While the seat conforms to the shape of a user, the deflection of the contour of the seats results from compression of the cushion material. Similar arrangements are used on the back.
In an alternate arrangement, the seat may be formed by a resilient fabric suspended from a frame. Such fabric is unsupported in the middle thereof and may be an open mesh-like material which improves the airflow or breathability of the seat. However, this fabric should be stretched taut to ensure proper support for the occupant.
The invention relates to an improved chair arrangement which uses a resilient fabric, which may be formed as a single layer of fabric material or a multi-layer pad and which is suspended in a frame unit. The suspension fabric is supported about its periphery on the frame unit while the center area thereof is unsupported. The invention relates further to improved constructions for attaching the fabric to the frame unit and for pretensioning the suspension fabric. In this regard, pretensioning may be provided by mounting the fabric to the frame unit and then flexing the opposite sides of the frame unit downwardly when mounting to a base frame section which thereby pulls the fabric taut.
Other objects and purposes of the invention, and variations thereof, will be apparent upon reading the following specification and inspecting the accompanying drawings.
Certain terminology will be used in the following description for convenience in reference only, and will not be limiting. For example, the words “upwardly”, “downwardly”, “rightwardly” and “leftwardly” will refer to directions in the drawings to which reference is made. The words “inwardly” and “outwardly” will refer to directions toward and away from, respectively, the geometric center of the system and designated parts thereof. Said terminology will include the words specifically mentioned, derivatives thereof, and words of similar import.